Recursion

No. Recursion is a standalone novel with no shared characters or setting. It is simply the book Blake Crouch published after Dark Matter (2016), and the two are often shelved together because both are science-fiction thrillers built on a single mind-bending premise. You can read them in either order, or read only one.

False Memory Syndrome is the affliction NYPD detective Barry Sutton is investigating at the start of the book. Its victims wake with complete, vivid memories of a life they never lived — spouses, children, homes and careers that do not exist — while their actual life remains intact alongside it. The condition spreads through New York and beyond, and tracing its cause is what pulls Barry into the story's central mystery.

Netflix acquired the rights to develop Recursion as a feature film and connected television series, with Shonda Rhimes producing and Matt Reeves directing and producing. Netflix and Penguin Random House both announced the project, but it has remained in development and no release date has been announced.

Yes. The book alternates between two protagonists on two timelines: NYPD detective Barry Sutton, beginning in 2018, and neuroscientist Helena Smith, beginning in 2007. Their chapters run in parallel for much of the book before the two strands meet, and the alternating structure is central to how the story's puzzle is assembled.